Open Feelings
by Mikestaslaya
Summary: Hinata tries to tell Naruto how she feels about him, but messes up in the process. Soon afterwards, Tsunade sends both Naruto and Hinata on a two-man squad mission. Will Hinata take this perfect opportunity to tell her crush how she feels?
1. Near Confession

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters featured in the show, and also I am not involved in the company producing Naruto the anime or manga

**Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters featured in the show, and also I am not involved in the company producing Naruto the anime or manga.**

She smiled. _Why am I not surprised? _Thought the raven-haired girl just ten feet away from the boy of her dreams.

_Him and his Ramen, its like his own personal drug_. She laughed.

_But he's just to cute to ignore!_

Hinata blushed crimson red as she pondered how she would start her conversation. She had always been shy and nervous, especially around Naruto (as much of a goofball as he may be).

Today was the day she decided she would admit her feelings to him. It had been over 2 years since she first saw him, and ever since then she has been madly in love with his bold perseverance, over confidence, and enthusiasm that could only come from the blonde haired boy himself.

But on top of that, it was the fact that she wished to be like him more then ever. He contained everything she lacked, or at least she thought so.

_Every time I see him, it motivates me to be strong. And its time he knows that, and because of it I love him._

As she watched the knuckle headed ninja slurp the last of the ramen out of his bowl (his fifth by the way), she decided to get moving. As she slowly crept toward him at her usually shy pace, she could help but blush and nearly faint.

_Pull yourself together Hinata. You can do this._

Suddenly and without much warning, Naruto turned around, slid off his chair and rushed out of the Ramen shop to come face-to-face with Hinata, who was still shocked by the fact him leaving so early.

_Naruto-kun is…so close…_

"Hey Hinata! I was just getting out of here to visit grandma Tsunade and I-

The girls face turned tomato red, and she felt her body go limp. Out of embarrassment, she fainted and fell into the ninja boy's arms.

"Eh? Hinata? Are you ok?" _Oh man I better get her to a hospital…Why is it always when I'm around that she faints like this? People are going to eventually get suspicious! _

Hinata woke up the next morning to find herself in a hospital bed. She hadn't been out for very long but it was enough to keep her there over night.

Naruto sat next to her bed and gave her his usually goofy grin when he saw her eyes start to open.

"Na-Naruto-kun? What happened? You took me here when I fainted last night?"

"Well, yeah. You started to act kinda weird and you turned really red so I thought you must be sick or something and needed to be taken to a hospital."

"Oh. Um...Thank you Naruto." The shy girl whispered. She smiled and blushed a little, but didnt faint this time.

"Don't mention it! Here, I got you some ramen. One cup of this and you'll be better in no time!"

She tried not to laugh, but couldn't help giggling a little. Naruto saw this and joined in, although he was unsure what was so funny.

They both let out long yawns before Naruto decided it was time to leave.

"I'll probably see you today at the training grounds, I've got some training with pervy-sage."

"Oh, I'll try to see you there Naruto-kun."

They said their good-byes and Naruto left her alone in the hospital bed.

_Ill ask Sakura why she keeps blushing like that. She knows girls much better than I do._

The knuckle-headed ninja headed off to look for his pink-haired teammate, Sakura Haruno.

**Well this is my first story, I'll try to update every week or so, maybe quicker. Please review, the more comments I get the more motivated I am to continue writing. Thanks for reading so far, chapter 2 coming up in a week or so.**


	2. A New Mission Approaches

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or any of the characters featured in the show, and also I am not involved in the company producing Naruto the anime or manga

Hinata laid there in the hospital bed, almost as tomato red as she was the night before, when they came face to face. She hated how it seemed she always messed up in front of him.

His motivation helped her be physically stronger, and more confident, but no matter what happened she always seemed to lose control and faint right in front of him.

_What if he hates me? I would be pretty annoyed if I had to carry someone like me to the hospital every time we met. How can I confess my feelings for him now? He probably just thinks I'm weak, and he might not even care…_

She almost cried, had it been that Tsunade didn't walk in on her.

"Hinata, glad to see your feeling better."

"Oh, thank you lady Tsunade."

_What is she doing here? If it's a mission I hope it's with-_

"Did you find out where Naruto headed to?"

"Um…He might be out training."

A slight grin formed on Tsunade's face. "That boy has no attention span…I just called him in last night!"

There was a slight pause, and then Shizune cut into the conversation.

"Don't worry lady Tsunade, I'll find him and bring him back to your office. And by the way Hinata, once your feeling better you should meet us in Tsunade's office as well."

"Oh, um sure, I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Oh hey Sakura, you haven't been around lately but I have been looking for you all day."

The orange suited ninja smiled.

"It's about Hinata, she's been acting kinda strange lately and it seems like she might be scared of me or something."

Sakura Haruno, a girl Naruto had liked ever since they were kids was standing in front of him near the training grounds. As time passed on however, he lost his affection for her and just kept their relationship at the level of friends, as he grew tired of being constantly rejected.

"Well what exactly do you mean?"

"I'm not so sure why, but she keeps blushing and fainting whenever she's around me, maybe its what I'm eating…" Naruto mumbled something about unlucky ramen before turning to Sakura for another question.

"Oh and by the way, have you seen Tsunade anywhere? She wasn't in her office when I last checked."

"Well, no. It's been a while. Naruto, about Hinata…"

Naruto still had a puzzled look on his face.

"When people like one another, they do weird things, like Hinata fainting."

"Yeah, yeah I know all about you liking Sasuke and acting so weird around him but what about Hinata?"

"Naruto, that's just it. I think she-"

"There you are! Where have you been Naruto? Come with me we have training to do."

_Ugh pervy sage, why must you ruin everything?_

"Lets go knuckle head, common I even bought you some Ramen for the day"

Jiraya, the perverted old toad sage stood tall on a branch perched above them.

Like Tsunade, he was one of the legendary sannin, and has been training Naruto ever since he passed the first exam to become a chunnin.

As perverted as he was, he was also one of the strongest ninja in the world, surpassing many Jonin and was even on the same team as Tsunade herself (who was now Hokage).

"No, he's coming with me old man."

"Tsunade!" Both Naruto and Jiraya both said in unison.

"Sorry Tsunade, I couldn't find you in your office last night but I see you're here so um how about we go talk?"

The stupefied ninja said. "Just follow me, you and Hinata need to be in my office immediately." Tsunade laughed.

"Alright, alright. Well I'll see you later Sakura. Bye now"

Sakura sighed. "Bye Naruto."

_Why did Sasuke leave? I really hope it wasn't my fault…_ Sakura thought.

**At Hokage office…**

"Naruto, Hinata, I need you to listen carefully."

Both Naruto and Hinata nodded in agreement.

"As you already know, Sasuke has left. He ran off with Orochimaru, and until we can get him to come back to Konoha, there's no telling what they are planning."

Naruto swallowed hard. Hinata had a troubled look on her face.

"We have spotted some of Orochimaru's men heading West of the gate. We need you to follow them through the mountains and see if you can find Orochimaru's base. Then you must give us the location"

Naruto cut in "But how will we let you know exactly where it is? What if we don't remember? What if Sasuke changes location?"

Tsunade smiled. "I Thought you would ask that. We created this tracking device that you will need to plant on Sasuke. We have two, actually. You will keep one; the other will be with Sasuke. As soon as you finish this task, you must immediately return to Konoha for further instructions."

The blonde haired boy smiled. "Sounds easy, bring it on, we'll have this mission done in no time! Right Hinata?"

Hinata sat there, blushing crimson red. "Um, yes Naruto-kun."

_I can't believe it. I'm going on a mission with…Naruto-kun…_


	3. The Journey Begins

**Sorry for the long wait, I know how annoying it is when this kind of thing happens. It's been a while since chapter 2, but I'll try to add chapters more often now.**

Tsunade paced back and forth, still nervous from when the two genin left her office. _Naruto can't possibly fail this one too, can he? I mean, the boys got the heart for it…but what about Hinata? How this mission will go remains a complete mystery._

Even Shizune seemed to have a say in the situation. "Lady Tsunade, are you sure about this? They are still genin, couldn't we send someone more…well, qualified?"

Tsunade eyed her suspiciously. "Who do you have in mind? The mission isn't exactly meant for just anyone, after all. I chose Naruto for a reason."

"Well, why not a jonin or a chunnin at least? We could send Kakashi or perhaps even Jiraya the toad sage if they aren't busy."

"Don't worry so much about it, Shizune; I'm sure Naruto will be fine." Although the main reason was because of the shortage the Leaf was having of jonin and well trained ninja.

The two young ninja approached Konoha's large entrance, and Naruto turned to face Hinata just as they left.

"Are you sure you have everything? If your missing any ninja tools or anything you'll need to survive on for the next few days, feel free to return to your house to get it. I'll wait here." The girl nodded her head in assurance. "Don't worry Naruto-kun, I'll be alright." The yellow-haired boy gave her his patented grin. "Whatever you say, let's try to finish this mission quickly."

_He wants to finish this mission so quickly. What if…what if its because he doesn't like me? Could Naruto really hate me?_

Hinata pondered while nervously tapping her foot on the ground. She then ran to follow Naruto out of Konoha's gates. As they headed through the forest towards their destination, Hinata decided to start a conversation between the two of them. "So um, Naruto-kun… About Sasuke, what made him leave?" Naruto didn't answer right away, making Hinata worry that she hit a sensitive subject. "I'm sorry, Naruto-kun."

He looked back at her as they were jumping through the trees, then answered sadly "I…I don't really know. He always wanted power, but I never though he would put that over friendship and loyalty."

Hinata looked down at her feet, then up towards Naruto as she said "I…I'm sorry it had to be that way be-between you two." He looked back at her and said simply "Don't worry about it. All I know is I'll get Sasuke back, and I'll kill this Orochimaru creep in the process."

Hinata jumped a little in surprise. _I've never seen Naruto-kun this serious before, he really wants to retrieve his friend…_

Once they reached a clearing, they decided it was best if they set up camp, as the trip to Orochimaru's base was long and tiresome. It was a far distance just to get to the mountains from where they currently were, and getting to the mountains was only half of it.

"Man, what a journey." Naruto whined as he set up the tent and unfolded the sleeping bags._ But I still don't care how long this takes. I'll bring Sasuke back…I promised Sakura..._

Hinata cleared the area of bugs, loose branches, and anything that will get in the way later that night. They both needed a lot of sleep, as there was a long road ahead of them. "Naruto-kun…can I ask you something?"

"Sure, go ahead."

"Umm…You like Sakura, right?"

"Hmmm…I used to, but I grew tired of rejection and decided to move on. Why do you ask?"

"Well, I need some advice. How does a boy know when a girl likes them? How can a girl hint a man that she's in love with him, without directly saying anything about her feelings?"

Naruto cocked his head to the side, then thought for a moment. _Odd question. _"Usually, if a girl acts different around a guy, it means she likes them. I think that's how it goes. I remember how different Rock Lee would act around Sakura, or how I used to act around her…But don't ask me, I don't know much about dating subjects."

Later that night, they finished setting up camp and sat in bed talking and learning more about each other. Hinata explained where she came from and her clan rules and such, while Naruto listened carefully. He didn't say much about his past, for obvious reasons, only that he never really had a family.

"…and anyway, he's always late for training and he reads some pervy book all the time, but he's cool I guess."

"He sounds pretty co-cool, Naruto-kun."

"Thanks Hinata, but I was just wondering...why do you keep calling me Naruto-kun?"

Hinata blushed a light red, and thought of a response fast. "That's what I call all of my friends, just to be nice." Although she wanted to be more than friends with Naruto, and he was truthfully the only one she used "kun" with.

_Wow, she's pretty nice to me. Shes probably one of the first friends I have that's actually a girl (Sasuke doesn't count) aside from Sakura. _

"You know Hinata, your not that bad. Your a cool person, and I like your sense of humour." He smiled at her and giggled a little.

Hinata didn't faint, but did blush a crimson red. "Thanks Naruto-kun, your great too." _Na-Naruto-kun likes me. I'm so glad..._)

They both felt tired and yawned, thus deciding to get some rest.

"Well, I'm gonna call it a night Hinata. See ya in the morning." Naruto said softly as he rolled over into his sleeping bag.

"Good night, Naruto-kun." Behind his back, she blew him a kiss and fell asleep within minutes.


End file.
